


Sometimes the Best Solution is the Simplest

by diamondforger



Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers Ninja Storm
Genre: F/M, First Kiss, M/M, Mentions of Love Potion, Miscommunication, Multi, Oblivious Cam, Polyamory, Post "I Love Lothor", clumsy confessions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-20
Updated: 2019-06-20
Packaged: 2020-05-15 02:45:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19286524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/diamondforger/pseuds/diamondforger
Summary: Cam had been shot, kidnapped, turned into a bug, and tied up in a storage room by his own creation.  He'd always taken it in stride.  But the love potion was another thing altogether.  And he was nearly certain the effects still hadn't fully worn off.After all that's the only reason he'd still be having these feelings... right?





	Sometimes the Best Solution is the Simplest

**Author's Note:**

  * For [oneatatime](https://archiveofourown.org/users/oneatatime/gifts).



Cam stared up at the Storm Chargers sign trying his best no to rock back and forth nervously.  An extreme sports store was hardly his scene on the best of days, but the fact the last time he’d been there he’d made a fool of himself didn’t make it any better.  But the only alternative would be having this conversation at the base in front of his father and that was definitely not happening. 

Taking a deep breath he pushed through the door and searched the store for familiar faces.  The first person he spotted was Dustin doing some bike work behind the counter.  Cam made his way over in what he hoped was a casual way, but that hope was dashed when Dustin spotted him and dashed over anxiously. 

“What wrong? Is Lothor messing with the comms again?” he asked in hushed tones, fiddling with his morpher.

“Nothing is wrong,” Cam muttered, “Do really think the only reason I’d come here is because of a ranger emergency?”

“I mean, kinda, dude,” Dustin said, visibly relaxing as he clapped Cam on the back, “So how can I help you?”

“I was, um, I was going to ask you for some advice,” Cam stared at the ground as he spoke, “If you, if you have the time.”

“It’s a pretty slow day, so I have time, but you know Tori is way better at advice than I am.  I think she’s still out surfing if you wanna talk with her.”

“I can’t go to her.”  Cam said in one sharp breath.  He risked a look up at Dustin was watching him with a small smile. 

“Why not?”

“Because she’s the problem,” he blurted out, “Wait no I don’t mean that I mean the problem involves her.  So, I can’t talk to her about it.”

“Alright.” Cam looked up again to see Dustin’s smile had grown, “So what’s the problem then?” he said with a raised eyebrow. 

“Look, if you’re just going to mess with me, I’ll leave.”

Cam turned to escape the store, but Dustin grabbed his arm.  “Wait wait wait, I’m not messing with you, I promise,” Cam stopped, glaring at him, “No more jokes, just tell me what’s up.”

“Fine,” Cam took a deep breath, “Ever since the incident with the… with the…”

 He looked up at Dustin, who was doing a terrible job at biting back laughter.  “The love potion?” Dustin offered, the sides of his mouth twitching.

“Yeah,” Cam grumbled before continuing, “I think there were some lingering effects.”  

“Dude! How is that not ranger business?” Dustin lowered his voice, “Is that monster back?”

“No, it’s not like that.  The spell was definitely broken, it’s just, there are some… some residual feelings.”

“Oh, is this about your thing for Tori?”

“Wha –what thing?” Cam stuttered back in vain as he felt his cheeks heating up.  From Dustin’s knowing look he could tell the lie had been just as unconvincing as it felt.  “Alright fine, I have a bit of a ‘thing’ for her,” he admitted.  After all he had eyes, he knew Tori was hot.  And he’d grown very fond of her presence since she’d become a ranger. She was the really the only one of the rangers that seemed to actually listen to him.  Cam shook his head, “But that’s what I came to talk to you about.”

“Wait, if this isn’t about Tori then who?”

Cam stared pointedly at a rack of sports jackets.  Taking a deep breath as said through gritted teeth.  “Blake.  It’s Blake. Ever since we were both put under that spell I’ve just been feeling weird around him.”

“Weird how?”

Cam cheeks heated up even more.  He didn’t lift his gaze from the jackets, but the flush must have been visible, because Dustin started laughing. 

“Dude, I don’t think that’s a magic spell.  You just have a crush,” he said ruffling Cam’s hair, “and, look, I get it.  Motocross bros are super-hot.”

“How humble of you,” Cam muttered, pulling away slightly, “And I know what a crush is.  I’m not five.  This is different and it came out of nowhere.  I’m pretty sure that it’s because we both drank the potion.”

“If you’re so sure of that, why didn’t you just talk to Blake about it?” Dustin asked. 

“Because I wanted to run it by someone not directly involved first,” Cam said defensively, “It’d be weird to just go up to him and ask if he…” Cam paused as thoughts of the past couple nights flew through his brain.  He’d had crushes before, but they’d always been fleeting. No one wanted to hook up with the Sensei’s kid and he’d mostly given up on relationships.  But he’d never felt like this before.  He’d never struggled to sleep because his mind was racing with images of soft lips and strong arms.  His face had never heated up like a furnace at the thought of training with someone. 

“It’d be weird,” he snapped, shaking the thoughts out. 

“Yeaaah,” Dustin said.  Cam finally tore his gaze from the jackets to examine Dustin face.  “Dude, I was saying the same stuff before Shane and I got together. It’s really-“

“Before what?”

Dustin paused, eyes widening, “Am I still supposed to be lying about that?” He said rubbing his chin nervously. 

“Lying about what?”

“Well I guess it’s too late to go back on that,” Dustin sighed with a rueful grin, “Shane and I have been a thing since we were in high school, dude.  But we thought that when we applied to the academy that, ya know, Sensei might have a problem with it.  Like, he wouldn’t let both of us in if we were in a relationship because, like, distraction.  So we kinda kept it on the down low.”

“And you’ve been hiding it this entire time?” Cam asked incredulously as he searched through old memories.  He’d never particularly cared about the private life of his teammates, but he couldn’t have missed something so major.  Even though, as he remembered more training it wasn’t that odd.  They’d always been affectionate, but always in that over-the-top bro-y way that Cam couldn’t stand. 

“I mean we weren’t, like, actively hiding it,” Dustin laughed, “We just assumed you’d notice at some point, but that’s not the point.  The point is that feelings can come up in you really suddenly and it can be pretty freaky.  This isn’t some magic spell, it’s just, like, human nature.”

“But what if it isn’t human nature? What if I’m just more susceptible to the spell than he was and he gets freaked out by all this?”

“Look,” Dustin rolled his eyes, placing a firm hand on Cam’s shoulder, “I’ll talk to him.  I won’t say anything about this I promise, act like I’m making sure he’s alright.”

“Fine,” Cam muttered, “I’ll see you at training tonight.”

…

Training was a special kind of hell that night.  Physically it wasn’t particularly demanding, but Cam felt his heart pounding in his chest even when he was resting.  There was an energy in the room that he couldn’t place, but the whole endeavor made him want climb the walls. 

And the others could see it too.  Halfway through practice Tori came over asking if he was sick because of how flushed he was.  Her placing her hand on his forehead was welling meaning but it only made him more flushed.  And as he struggled to brush her off her could feel Blake’s stare.  Cam was too nervous to look over even to gauge the expression.

After what felt like weeks, training ended.  Cam tried to bolt back to his room, but as he was leaving he heard Blake calling his name. 

“Did you need something?” he asked turning reluctantly. 

“Yeah, I just wanted you to check something out on my Tsunami cycle,” Blake said, glancing over at Sensei. 

“I don’t know why you’re asking permission, Blake,” Sensei replied calmly as ever, “It’s always a good time to make sure our tools are properly maintained.”

Cam was reasonably positive that everyone in the room could hear his heart from how loud it was pounding in his chest as he dragged his feet out of the command center.  Blake led him away from the others and down one of the forest paths. 

“Where did you leave your bike?” Cam asked once they’d gotten out of earshot of the others. 

“Dude,” Blake said with a laugh, “I was lying about the cycle.  I just wanted to have a private conversation.”

“Oh?” He’d barely started cooling down after the exercise, but Cam could feel the heat rising in his face and sweat beading on his palms.  This definitely wasn’t normal, he told himself.  There’s no way a natural crush would cause a reaction like this.  After all he’d been into Tori for months and been able to control himself when she grabbed his arm, or kissed him on the cheek, or hugged him after a victory, or whispered stupid jokes in his ear. 

“Look Dustin told me what happened.”

Cam’s wandering thoughts were cut off as his mouth went dry as the rest of his face broke out in even more sweat.  He opened his mouth, but no words were coming out. 

“He was trying to be all subtle about it but he’s really not a good liar,” Blake continued grinning a little guiltily. 

“I should have known,” Cam muttered, trying to look at anything but Blake’s face.  Or his arms, bared and still glistening with sweat.  Definitely not looking at them. 

“Give him a break, dude,” Blake laughed causing Cam’s stomach to tie itself in knots, “Look it’s a relief to know I’m not the only one feeling this.”

Cam’s eyes shot up to meet Blake’s.  “So you do feel it too?”

Blake moved closer, eyes locked with Cam’s.  “Yeah, man.”

The thudding of Cam’s heart slowed slightly, but the heat in his face didn’t die down.  “That’s a relief,” he said trying to decipher the express on Blake’s face.  “What should we do?”

“I thought that’d be pretty obvious,” Blake answered taking another step forward. 

They were only inches apart and Cam swore he could feel the heat waves coming off Blake.  The feeling was intoxicating, but he couldn’t lose his focus now. 

“I’m not entirely sure-“

He was cut off by Blake closing the distance between them by pulling him into a kiss.  Cam froze as one of Blake’s hand slid into his hair and the other pulled at his waist.  Blake’s movement were smooth and reassured as he began teasing Cam’s bottom lip with his tongue and teeth. 

Cam let himself melt into the kiss as Blake’s hand began to slowly reach up the back of his shirt.  He already felt like he was on fire but everywhere Blake touched tingled like he was spreading static electricity.  The whole thing made Cam lightheaded.  As Blake’s hand snuck its way past the bottom of his shirt, Cam let out a half sigh half moan. 

As he opened his mouth, Blake pushed forward, sliding his tongue into Cam’s mouth gently.  The unfamiliar feeling jolted Cam back to his senses, and he suddenly became aware of two things.  First was how sweaty the two of them were and how decidedly unsexy the salty taste of sweat on their lips was.  The other was that they were doing the exact opposite of what he’d planned. 

He shoved Blake away.  “What are you doing?” Cam said between deep breaths.  His chest felt oddly tight and he swore he could still feel electricity on every spot Blake had touched.

Blake stared back at him dazed. Cam tried not to focus how hungry Blake’s gaze was or notice how flushed his lips were.

“I thought that’s what you’d wanted,” he said, shaking his head, “I’m sorry did I miss something.”

“Yes, I mean no, I mean, I’m the one that must have missed something,” Cam stuttered, “Look, I gotta go.”

He took off full speed towards ops before Blake could offer a reply. 

…

 “Well that didn’t work.” Blake practically shouted as he entered Storm Chargers.

Dustin looked up from his work with a sigh.  “What didn’t work dude?  I didn’t tell you to do anything.”

Blake jumped over the counter into the Storm Chargers repair shop.  “You know full well what I mean.”

“I take it you said something stupid to Cam,” Dustin said, going back to the bike tire he was replacing. 

“You told me-“

“I told you noting,” Dustin interrupted him.

“You strongly implied,” Blake amended, rolling his eyes, “that Cam was into me, but I tried talking to him and he freaked out.”

“Just talking?”

“I mean,” Blake shrugged, letting a sly smile past his lips, “It started that way.”

“Dude,” Dustin said, pulling the bike off the table, “Don’t push him.  He doesn’t rush into things the same way you do.  Hunter was the same way.”

“Hunter was the same way when?”

Dustin paused, squinting at Blake in confusion.  “When we got together.  Dude, please tell me that you know about that.”

Blake stared blankly at Dustin.  “What? When? Why?”

“When you guys were still being all evil,” Dustin sighed loudly again before shoving the bike into a rack with unnecessary force, “He was trying to get in good with me at the same time you were buttering up Tori.  Once everything was out in the open we started...”

Dustin kept explaining, but Blake stopped paying attention the second he heard Tori. 

“Oh no, I forgot,” he muttered cutting off Dustin’s explanation. 

“What?”

“Tori, I think I cheated on Tori,” Blake answered, “I mean we weren’t technically dating, I think.  So maybe it doesn’t count.”

Even as the words left his mouth he knew he didn’t mean them.  He still liked Tori, a lot.  And even if he didn’t he wasn’t the sort of guy to dump a girl the second someone new came along.  Especially not after he’d promised her that he’d take things slow with her.  He’d messed up her trust pretty badly with all the Lothor stuff, and he wasn’t going to screw with it again. 

“Have you talked to her about it?” Dustin said, more as an instruction than a question, “If she decides to kick your ass, you’re on your own.”

“I’m doing that right now,” Blake said as he ran out of the store. 

  …

Cam was roused by a soft knock at his door.  He pulled himself up stiffly, wiping the caked sand from his eyes.  Without thinking he yanked the door open, looking down expecting to see his father starting a lecture on why waking early was beneficial. 

Instead, he saw a pair of familiar shoes.  He drew his eyes up slowly to meet Tori’s concerned smile. 

“How are you feeling?”

Cam knew he looked a mess. He was still sweaty and flushed and he was sure his hair was a complete mess.  He ended up tossing a turning all night after what’d happened with Blake.  After all, how was he supposed to sleep after that?  Even a freezing cold shower hadn’t helped calm him down.

“Fine,” he said voice still hoarse from sleep, “What are you doing here?”

“I brought you soup,” Tori said extending a blue thermos, “because you seemed sick.”

Cam laughed slightly.  “Thank you, but I’m not sick.”

“Cam, it’s noon and you just woke up,” Tori said forcing the thermos into his hand, “Even if you’re not sick you could use a meal.”

Cam reluctantly took it, running his fingers through his hair with the other hand.  Tori noticed and moved closer, combing through his hair with her hands to try and get it to lie flat.  As she did, he felt warm spread in his chest. 

“Something obviously bothering you,” Tori said softly as she finished taming his hair, “do you want to talk about it?”

The question hung in the air for a few seconds before Cam forced himself to shake his head.  He turned away, stumbling over to his bed and dropping the thermos on his nightstand.

“That’s fine,” she said and opened her arm in the offer of a hug.

Normally, Cam would have been too proud to accept the offer.  He’d just have laughed it off and accepted a pat on the back or her affectionately grabbing his arm.  But he was half awake and stressed and he’d been avoiding her for too long.  So he slowly stumbled back over to her and pulled her close.

Tori’s hugs were just like her presence, steady and calming.  He pressed his head into her shoulder as she rubbed small circles between his shoulder blades.  He nestled into the crook of her neck, taking a deep breath and letting himself be swept away in her warmth and the smell of the sea in her hair.  He’d always thought of her as small, but he now could easily feel the muscles in her arms and on her back as she held him. 

This was the attraction Cam was been used to.  The warmth in his chest was calm, controlled, and most importantly outwardly undetectable.

Their hug felt like it lasted forever and yet not nearly long enough.  If they’d been lying down Cam would have fallen asleep almost instantly in her arms and even standing he could feel the temptation to just collapse into her.  Eventually Tori pulled away, just slightly, fixing her gaze on his face. 

“Just make sure you’re taking care of yourself,” she said, holding his gaze firmly, “and you can talk to me when you’re ready.”

Their faces were only a couple of inches apart, and her arms were still resting on his shoulders.  Cam was suddenly very aware of how easy it would be to pull her into a kiss.  It almost seemed like she was asking him to as her bright blue eyes searched his face.  

“I will,” he said, dropping his gaze, “thanks again for the soup, and for,” his eyes flicked back up to her face as she moved away, “Thanks for everything.”

…

Blake paced back and forth on the beach.  He’d been there near twenty minutes and Tori was still surfing.  Not that he blamed her.  It was a good day and he knew she hadn’t had much time for it recently. 

He looked out at the water and smiled as he watched her riding a wave.  He’d often wondered if she ever used her ninja powers when surfing.  Not that he’d ever ask, for fear of offending her.  But it seemed almost impossible that she was able to glide on the water in a way that seemed so effortless. 

His staring seemed to have caught her attention because she finally headed over.   She dropped the board near her van running over to give him a quick kiss on the lips.  Her lips tasted like saltwater, like they always did after surfing. 

“What are you doing here?” she asked, wringing water out of her hair.  “I thought you were supposed to be practicing for the next race.”

“I wanted to talk to you,” Blake said, “If you’re not too busy.”

“I think I’m done for now,” she said, suddenly becoming serious, “but there’s something I wanted to ask you about too.”

“Yeah?” Blake felt his heartrate jump.  “You should go first.”

“How well do you know Cam?”

Blake bit back a curse.  “Not as well as I’d like,” he said nervously before immediately shifting directions.  “I mean, he’s not exactly an open guy.”

“Yeah, but he’s been acting weird recently,” Tori said, “and he’s been pulling away from me.  I used to be able to help him when he had problems, but he won’t talk to me anymore,” she looked out at the ocean sadly, “I just miss spending time with him.”

“I wonder what’s up with him,” Blake lied. 

“Could you talk to him?”  Tori asked, “I just want to make sure that it’s not something I did, you know.  And it would be really nice if you two were friends.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Blake blurted out before he could stop himself. 

Tori gave him an inquisitive look.  “Is everything okay with you?”

“Yeah,” Blake said with his best attempt at confidence, “by the way, when did you notice Cam starting to act weird?”

“After the love potion.  Maybe he’s just embarrassed.”

“Maybe he’s still into you just like I am,” Blake joked. 

Tori turned her head, a small smile playing across her lips.  “Would you have a problem with that?”

“What?” Blake’s face warmed at the thought.  He’d been expecting jealously to flare within himself, but instead he just felt warmer.  He saw Tori’s smile grow at his reaction and blustered a response.  “How would you feel if he was into me?”

“Depends,” Tori said smile growing a bit more.  She looked away with a dreamy expression, “Would I still be able to join in?”

“What? I mean, I, uh, sure.  Yeah, I guess,” Blake stuttered out as Tori threw an arm around his shoulder.  His heart was hammering as more and more ideas fluttered through his mind.  He certainly wouldn’t mind having both Tori and Blake.  But that just wasn’t something that happened.  No matter how attractive the idea was in his head. 

“You’re so easy to mess with.”  She laughed and kissed him on the cheek.  “But what were you going to ask me about?”

Their communicators chirped and Blake had never been more relieved to hear Cam announcing the arrival of a new monster.  “What’s happening?”

Cam voice came though the communicator.  “There are multiple Kelzak attacks going on throughout the city.  I’ve already delegated the others, but it seems like the biggest concentration of them is on the beach about a mile south of you right now.”

“On it,” Tori said and they took off. 

…

Cam slammed the last Kelzak to the ground, watching it disintegrate.  Taking a second to ensure his job is was done, he called ops. 

“How many of them are left?”

“The others are still totally swamped,” Cyber Cam shouted back over the comm, “but I think you head to the beach.  There’s some weird energy going down there.”

“I thought Tori and Blake were there,” he said, sheathing his sword. 

“Yeah, about that,” Cyber Cam chuckled nervously, “I’m not seeing their energy signals anymore.”

“Be careful, Cam.  It may be a trap,” his father chimed in. 

“I will,” Cam said before taking off in the direction of the beach. 

He skidded to a stop as soon as he was in sight of the crowd of Kelzaks. There were no civilians around, but also no sign of the two rangers.  The Kelzaks seemed to just be milling around a box sitting in the middle of the swarm. 

“Any information on that box?” he asked. 

“I can’t even see what box you’re talking about,” Cyber Cam responded, “the second Blake and Tori got close to it their comms jammed.”

“Great.” Cam muttered to himself, “I’m going to check it out.”   

He took one last look to survey the battlefield for obvious traps before running in.  Drawing his sword, he swung at the closest kelzak, only to hit air.  The momentum of his swing took him tumbling forward as the beach around him warped.  The color leeched out of the air around him as he scrambled to his feet leaving nothing but white fog.  As his vision cleared he saw he was in a plain white room with no windows or door.  The only other thing in the room was the box that’d been sitting in the middle of the Kelzak mob. 

Approaching the box, he noticed two familiar figures leaning on it.  Tori and Blake were demorphed and fast asleep, Blake’s head resting on Tori’s shoulder. 

Cam took a step towards them only for a booming voice to come from everywhere around them. 

_“I see I’ve caught another ranger.  Three down, three to go.”_

The voice awakened Tori and Blake who leapt to their feet. 

“ _Hand over you power disc and I’ll set you free_ ,” the voice continued, “ _Otherwise, you’ll stay trapped in here forever_.”

“Oh shut up,” Blake yelled at the empty room, “he’s not going to do it either.”

“ _It’s only a matter of time_.”

Tori ran over to Cam.  “What’s happening out there?”

“Everyone’s still fighting off Kelzaks,” Cam said.

“Still?” Blake asked, “Bro, It’s been hours.”

“No it hasn’t,” Cam demorphed, glancing at his watch, “It’s only been twenty minutes.”

“Blake is right,” Tori said, “We tried escaping for at least two hours before giving up and trying to sleep.”

_“If you give me your power discs now I might even let your friends keep theirs_.”

“Oh yeah, I believe that,” Blake shouted back and Cam couldn’t help but notice a hoarseness in his voice. 

“Blake thinks shouting at the monster will stop me from trying to get him to open up,” Tori said, rolling her eyes, “I’m not sure who’s more annoying at this point, him or the monster.”

“ _If you give me your power discs you won’t have to hear either of us anymore_.”

Blake shouted back getting into a fight with the voice, but Tori ignored the whole thing, focusing directly on Cam.  “So that meathead isn’t feeling up to talking to me.  What about you?”

“What- what about me?” Cam said nervously, “I really think we should focus on the monster first.”

“The only thing we can do about that monster is wait it out until the others find us,” Tori said matter-of-factly, “And we might as well clear the air while we’re here.”

“Clear what air?”

“Oh god, not you too,” Tori slumped down on the box, “I’m not stupid. I know that you’re both interested in me and I just want to deal with it instead of waiting for stuff to become a problem.”

“It’s too late for that,” Blake yelled taking a running start away from the box and bodily hitting one of the walls with a dull thud. 

“We’ve already tried that,” Tori yelled at him. 

“I’m sorry, I’m just a little stressed because I found out that my brother’s been hooking up with Dustin without telling me,” Blake yelled storming back over to them.

“Wait what?” Cam cut in, “That’s not right.  Dustin’s with Shane.”

“But he told me-“

“You’re both right.”

They turned to look at Tori in confusion.

“Have you guys not been paying attention at all?”  Tori looked between their two equally blank faces.  “All three of them have been in a relationship for the past month.  How could you have possibly missed that?”

“That’s an option?” Blake asked, mouth hanging open like a child that’d just been shown Santa had been real the whole time, “A relationship with three people?”

“Yes?” Tori said, pinching the bridge of her nose, “and I was kinda hoping that it’d be an option for us too, but only but I guess I misread that situation.”

“I’m sorry,” Blake cleared his throat, “What option would that be exactly?”

“I wanted to have an open relationship,” Tori placed an arm over both of their shoulders, “With both of you.”

Cam heart was pounding and his cheeks heated up as he looked over at Blake. 

Blake looked between him and Tori several times before taking a deep breath and blurted out. “Yeah, I’m down.”

“Wait, hold on, you don’t even want to think about this?” Cam asked. How could the others be so calm about this? Especially when they were still trapped by one of Lothor’s goons.

“I’m into Tori and I'm into you,” Blake said, “And Tori’s into both of us.  If you’re down, then I don’t see why it wouldn’t work.”

“Because that’s not how things work,” Cam snapped. 

“Look, if you don’t want to do it, then I’ll drop it,” Tori interjected, “Forget we had this whole conversation.”

“Nah, he wants it,” Blake said.  Cam glared at Blake, but was only met by a cocky grin.  “Look at him, he’s getting all hot and bothered just by the idea.”

Cam had to admit he was right.  His cheeks had been getting hotter and hotter the whole conversation.  He could even feel the flush creeping down to his chest.  Because the suggestion did interest him, a lot.  But he’d never had a relationship with one person, let alone two. 

“ _You won’t have to continue this conversation if you just give me the power discs_.”

“Shut up,” all three of them yelled in unison. 

“Come on, Cam,” Blake said, dropping his confidence a bit, “We can at least give this a try, right?” Blake moved closer to Cam, grabbing him by the shoulder.  “What’s the worst that can happen?”

“ _You could be trapped in here forever because you won’t just give me the power discs_.”

Blake started to turn, opening his mouth to yell back, but Cam made a spilt second decision.  He pulled Blake back, placing a hand on his cheek and pressing their lips together softly.  Unlike the night in the woods, the kiss felt gentle, controlled.  This time, he had time to process stuff like how rough Blake lips were and how he smelled.  In the same way that Tori always smelled like the ocean, he smelled like the promise of thunder on a humid day.  

The kiss only lasted a couple seconds before Cam let go.  He let himself drink up the sight of Blake being the bewildered one for once. 

“So, are we doing this?” Tori asked with a smile, “Or am I stuck here third wheeling?”

“ _You wouldn’t be stuck anywhere if you_ -“

“Shut up,” she shouted before the monster could finish its offer.  Not missing a beat, she walked over to the two men, throwing an arm around each of their shoulders.  She gave Blake then Cam a kiss on the cheek.  “I think I could get used to this.”

“ _Are you guys being serious_?”

The voice didn’t come from all around like it’d done previously.  Instead, it seemed to be coming directly from the box.  They slow started to back away as the box because to shift and change color, slowing growing to the size of a human.    

“ _I was told humans **hated** being locked up in small spaces.  This is no fun_,” the monster yelled as it became fully formed.  “ _I guess I’ll just have to do this the old fashioned way_.”

It was hardly what would pass for an intimidating alien.  Barely taller than the Kelzaks, but much bulkier.  And the fog in the room constantly swept around its body making it hard to parse exactly what it looked like outside of a boxy silhouette.

“Let’s just get this over with,” Blake said as they sprung to action. 

They morphed and launched themselves at the alien.  As they ran at it, it dodged and tried to vanish in to the fog, but there weren’t enough places to hide.  Cam managed to land one blow on the monster and it screamed before taking off towards the edge of the room, bursting through the wall. 

Their visions began to swim as color and sunlight returned, the blank white room becoming the familiar beach. 

The alien took off running, yelling as it went, “ _I’m not being paid enough to deal with this_.”

They began to chasing after but a bright light appeared and it vanished. 

“Damn, Lothor’s really scraping the bottom of the barrel with that guy,” Blake joked as he demorphed, “Usually they at least try and fight.”

“Heeeeey you guys are back!” Cyber Cam cheered through their communicators, “The others are still out fighting the last of those Kelzaks, but they seem to be retreating.”

“Okay,” Cam said, “We’re heading back to ops now.”

“Can’t we take a moment to breathe?” Blake joked, “and figure out what we’re gonna tell the others.”

“What? That the monster just got bored and left?” Cam said, knowing full well what Blake was aiming for. 

“Look, we don’t have to tell them anything,” Blake said, “my brother had two,” he held up two fingers for emphasis, “two boyfriends and didn’t tell me about either of them.  So I’m pretty alright with letting them guess for a bit.”

“Too late, they already know,” Tori said, “At least Dustin’s already figured it out, so good luck with hiding it from anyone else.”  She winked at them before taking off. 

“Aw, come on,” Blake muttered bitterly. 

“Don’t worry,” Cam said grabbing Blake’s hand, entertaining their fingers, “We’ll figure out some other way to mess with them.”


End file.
